Wrong date ... Couple lose P89-M lotto jackpot

This is a story about a couple who said that they have won the lotto jackpot.
The only problem was, they have the wrong draw date.

This is a lesson to be learned for lotto bettors who just pay the lotto attendant and never check there lotto tickets draw date.

Thanks to Leila Salaverria for this story.


MANILA, Philippines--A couple lost their bid to claim more than P89 million from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office after the Court of Appeals dismissed their petition to overturn a lower court ruling against them.

In dismissing the appeal of Ernesto and Marcelina Alburo, the appellate court said they used the wrong legal remedy since they should have questioned the Quezon City regional trial court's decision in a different petition and not an ordinary appeal.

The Quezon City RTC dismissed the Alburos' civil case to compel the PCSO to pay them the P89.2-million lotto grand prize, plus a P20,000 consolation prize, from the November 6, 1999 draw which they said they won. The RTC said there was lack of evidence to back up the couple's claim.

The Alburos claimed that they won the November 6 grand prize and that they placed their bets on the morning of that day, but that there had been a printing error in their tickets, which showed that they made their bets in the morning of November 7, 1999 for the November 9, 1999 draw.

They placed the bets at an outlet at the corner of IBP Road and Commonwealth Avenue.


But the Quezon City RTC ruled that their tickets clearly showed they placed their bets on November 7 and hence did not qualify for the November 6 draw. The Alburos then elevated the matter to the Court of Appeals
According to the appellate court, the couple raised issues of law against the Quezon City RTC, in particular questioning its acceptance of PCSO's evidence even if these had not been formally offered, thus violating the rules of court, and for violating the Constitution for for failing to state the legal basis for dismissing their motion for reconsideration.

Since there were no questions of fact, the couple's remedy of filing an ordinary appeal was the wrong mode, and they should instead have filed a petition for certiorari, said the Court of Appeals.

"Clearly, the appeal having been improperly brought before the Court of Appeals, the same should be dismissed outright," it said in a September 7 decision.

The Alburos violated the rules of court because their appeal did not contain a statement of facts, according to the appellate court. The appellate court described the right to appeal as a statutory right and those who wished to use it should follow the rules.

"Verily, the rules of procedure are tools designed to promote efficiency and orderliness, as well as, to facilitate attainment of justice, such that strict adherence thereto is required... Utter disregard of the rules cannot be rationalized by harking on the policy of liberal construction," it said.

Named respondents in the petition are the PCSO represented by Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, several of its officers and directors, the Benjamin Quirino Lotto Outlet and Lucia Villareno.

A lotto winner ?

I found this old news interesting. this is a story about a lotto bettor who said he has the lotto winning ticket but was told it was fake.

Thanks to Iloilo views
Author: powwow Posted on February 25th, 2009



I asked those questions in the light of the experience of a supposedly jackpot winner. Though vaguely, our readers will remember the published case of that man – Calito L. Mirando Jr. of Caragsacan, Dingsalan, Aurora – whose winning ticket was dishonored for being “fake.” It deserves an update, lest it would be completely forgotten.

The case first hugged public attention on April 22, 1999 when an investigative reporter, Janet Rebusio Ducayag, wrote very belatedly in the tabloid People’s Tonight a news feature on Mirando having been deprived of the lotto prize of P120,163,123, drawn way back on the night of March 9, 1996.

Ducayag wrote that, early that day, Mirando, a lumber salesman, went to a lotto ticket outlet at ACT theater in Cubao, Quezon City and bought a ticket – then costing ten pesos – betting on the combination 15-22-23-24-34-36.

The following day, he read the newspaper that his ticket had won. He walked back to the ACT lotto outlet and showed his winning ticket to the lady teller, who immediately inserted the ticket to the computerized machine verifier. The computer screen flashed the words, “Congratulations for winning the jackpot prize!”


On March 18, 1996, Mirando – clad in t-shirt, short pants and slippers, hence looking every inch like a tramp – showed up at the PCSO office on San Marcelino St., Manila. No less than then PCSO Chairman Manuel Morato met him at the reception room and got hold of his ticket. Morato excused himself to go to his office. An hour passed before he re-emerged. He returned the ticket, telling Mirando that it’s a counterfeit, and that somebody else, a driver from Lipa City, had bagged the jackpot.

To appease him, a PCSO legal counsel, Atty. Romualdo Quiñones, advised him to stop arguing with the chairman and go to court instead.

Before going to court, Mirando sought the help of Department of Justice (DOJ) State Prosecutor Teresita Domingo and Judge Luisito Cortez of the Municipal Trial Court of Plaridel, Bulacan. They arranged for Mirando to meet with Morato at Sulo Restaurant, Quezon City, with the end view of settling the problem out of court. But Morato did not show up.

Consequently, with the financial support of sympathetic lumber dealers, Mirando filed a case for damages and for payment of P120-million prize against PCSO and chairman Morato on September 1, 2000 before Judge Thelma Ponferrada of the Regional Trial Court Branch 215, Quezon City.

One of the witnesses for the plaintiff, Edwin Alibuyog of the Philippine Gaming Management Corporation (the exclusive supplier of lotto ticket-dispensing computers, including the one assigned to ACT outlet), vouched for the authenticity of Mirando’s ticket.

Surprisingly, when the court sought the ACT outlet teller for her testimony, she was no longer at her post. In fact, the outlet itself had suddenly moved out without prior notice.

Nevertheless, Alibuyog debunked the assertion of Morato that somebody other than Mirando had won the P120-million, March 9, 1996 jackpot. Morato’s purported winner, a jeepney driver from Lipa City, could not have won because the outlet from where he had allegedly bought his ticket, Zenco Sales on Libertad St., Pasay City, started operating only on April 28, 1996 – more than six weeks after the March 9 draw.

While this case was pending in court, Carlito Mirando Jr. had to move from a friend’s house to another’s due to threats to his life. There was a time when, at the business address of a lumber dealer in Cabanatuan City, a group of armed men came looking for him.

The reporter of People’s Tonight who first exposed the Mirando misfortune, Janet Ducayag, testified that Morato had warned him not to testify for Mirando. But she did, saying that unidentified men had strafed her car while parking on Del Pan, Port Area, Manila. Fortunately, she was not inside.

This writer has also repeatedly questioned the credibility of lotto draws. In this corner last month, I echoed the opinion of Pangasinan Archbishop Oscar Cruz that there must be some hidden political agenda behind the massive promotion of lotto – aimed at luring the gullible to bet their bottom peso – in the light of renewed calls for charter change, which could open opportunity for the President to extend her term beyond 2010. Cruz is among the political analysts who believe that PCSO and PAGCOR money have been “effective” in the House as far as frustrating efforts to impeach GMA is concerned.

In response, a reader e-mailed me what I had not yet known: that Mirando had lost his case; it was dismissed by the RTC on April 27, 2005, sustaining Morato’s claim that Mirando’s ticket was fake.

On March 30, 2006, Carlito L. Mirando, Jr. appealed before the Court of Appeals, docketed as CA-GR CY No. 86399, assigning errors to the RTC’s decision.


Mirando, now 60 years old, still clings to the hope that, eventually, the Court of Appeals would reverse the lower court’s decision.

What are you doing with your lotto winnings?

Congratulations!

You've just won the lotto jackpot.

Tomorrows 6/55 lotto jackpot prize is almost P145 million. With 51 draws no lucky bettor has claimed the jackpot prize. Imagine if the numbers will be called tomorrow and you have the lucky ticket , what will you do with this truckload of money.

You may feel that it’s going to be a very very huge relief to know that your going to be able to pay all your debts, your rent ,electric bill, phone bill, groceries, food and etc. . you will feel that It’s like a heavy weight lifted.
Before winning the jackpot you had bills at home you didn’t know how they were going to be paid.

Going from being broke one day to being a millionaire the next day is a huge change in your life ,but the only problem mostly because once you have money, the problem starts in Yourself.
The decisions you make. You want to buy everything even useless things just to impress people or just for show off.

A huge problem having a lot of money is the pressure to spend a lot of money very quickly. When you are rich, everybody wants your money, especially your family, friends ,cousins, neighbors, etc. all wanted to borrow money from you. And of course you would gave it to them. Then, you have girlfriends or your wife who want you to buy them lots of expensive presents like cars, jewelry and clothes because you are rich and they want to show off to their friends. asking for your money–and you end up giving it to them.

But possibly the worst of all because when it comes to money, it is the blind leading the blind. We all spend our money as if it will never run out. For example, for you to be cool and respected by the other people you have to keep up with them. So, if one person buys a new SUV, you want to buy one too. I mean, you can’t be rich, driving a normal car like a Honda Civic or just an ordinary Toyota. You have to drive an expensive Hummer, Cadillac Escapade, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc.

You also have to have a huge expensive house. All the other rich do and if you just live in an average house, a townhouse or a 38 sq meter condo they look down at you. So, you have to spend a fortune buying huge house. And of course, the cellphones, laptops, I pods, the latest HDTV Etc..

We spend so much money on material things, it is insane. It is nothing for a lotto winner to spend P200,000 a month just for the gadgets. It is all extremely irresponsible. But, when you have your friends to impress and putting pressure on you every day to buy things, it becomes much easier to say yes than to say no, even as you are watching all of your money disappear.

A Lotto windfall changes all the parameters of how you live. It changes what you can do, what you no longer have to do, where you can live, how much you can travel. So much changes so fast that it can be terribly overwhelming, you may even feel what they call the .... money shock !!!

Anyway, one of this days you will be a lotto jackpot winner, I'm just giving you a glimpse of heaven on what a lotto winner usually does.
I will say it again, your decisions will make your money last for a long time or it will only take you 5 years or less to go back where you are now or worst.

Lotto millionaires ( 1,513 Lotto winners )

How to Get Rich ....

"There are Four ways to make money. You can inherit it. You can marry it. You can steal it. You can win it. (lotto)


How would you know if you are rich? You would probably reply, I would know if I was rich if I had no bills, or I had a lot of money in the bank, or had income producing investments or business, or I could buy whatever I want without having to go into debt.

If you gave any of the above answers you would be partially correct.
Most people perceive wealth or riches as the ability to be financially secure.

A person who is truly rich knows they are truly rich when they have achieved the most valuable asset of all: PERSONAL FREEDOM .....
This is true wealth, to have complete FREEDOM to live life on YOUR terms. Ill say it again ... FREEDOM to live life on YOUR terms.

If I give you 1 million pesos , then you would say that you are now rich. but you need to work 24 hours a day, everyday for the next 5 years, would you take it? I hope not, because you’d be working yourself out,working yourself as a slave, get exhausted, and basically end up not having the time to enjoy your 1 million.

Having all the money in the world and not having the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor is not a very good idea. Unfortunately, a lot of people end up in this situation. As they get promoted in the corporate ladder, they gain more responsibilities. More responsibilities mean more time working in the office. More time away from your family and more sacrifices.

Freedom means that no other people are dictating to you how to live your life. It also means that you are by yourself. No boss to tell you what to do.

If you want to go to Boracay by all means go.If you want to sleep 15 hrs a day then do it. If you want to travel around the world then go for it.


Freedom to do what you love, what you want to do, what you want, how you want it, how long you want it. No deadline no rules and limits are imposed.



Did you know that we have now 1513 lotto millionaires as of July 29 2010?

Philippines PCSO lotto jackpot winners:
For the Period 1995 to July 29, 2010


Lotto 6/42 No. of Jackpot Winners 772
Total Jackpot Payout Php 8,733,498,531.96


Megalotto 6/45 No. of Jackpot Winners 557
Total Jackpot Payout Php 10,150,360,877.71


SuperLotto 6/49 No. of Jackpot Winners 183
Total Jackpot Payout Php 7,052,568,301.80


Grand Lotto 6/55 No. of Jackpot Winners 1
Total Jackpot Payout Php 134,629,873.20



Grand Total No. of Jackpot Winners 1,513
Total Jackpot/1st PrizePayout Php 26,071,057,584.67